#but i mean why leave a company when you're basically promised a ship

[pharawee]

ah yes, 2am - the perfect time to rewatch Gen Y in its entirety

[toseehowthestoryends]

Hal Gates = Henry Avery

So, I've seen the theory that Hal Gates = Henry Avery, and I laughed at it until I did the research.

And holy shit, it fits.

What made me start scratching my head was when I stumbled upon a second draft script for the pilot that is a little different from what aired. It straight up says that Hal Gates is in his 60s in Episode I/1715. For some reason, I figured him a bit younger, but since Mark Ryan was only 58 when the show started airing...it starts to make sense.

Henry Avery was (probably) born in 1659. He'd be 56 in 1715.

Short history: Henry (Hal?) Avery was a British-born sailor who spent some time in the Royal Navy as a master's mate, became a privateer, and then a pirate captain when the crew of his ship mutinied and elected him. Then he became the most successful pirate of his age, the "Arch Pirate," and the subject of the first-ever worldwide manhunt after only two years as a pirate captain.

Then he escaped with his loot around 1695, twenty years before Black Sails begins, never to be seen again.

But there are theories that he disappeared to New Providence Island.

(More on that below the cut). Isn't that fascinating? We don't know where Hal Gates comes from, but we know he's been around for quite awhile. He's the right age (practically spot on). Hornigold implies that Gates has been at sea for around 50 years, which would mean he first went to sea around 1665, give or take a little. The first mention of Every at sea is around 1671, but what's 5-6 years when you're rounding?

The Black Sails universe credits Avery/Every as one of the founders of the Nation of Thieves, saying "this is a place for free men," on New Providence Island. He's also the man who found Skeleton Island.

We know Hal Gates sailed on his crew and had his journals (his "prized possession," which he gave to Flint for safekeeping. Why give those to someone who was supposedly a minor member of his crew (someone who was "terrified Avery knew his name")? That doesn't add up very well. Why would Gates even have those journals?

"They say it started with a man named Henry Avery. Sailed into the port of Nassau, bribed the colonial governor to look past his sins, encamped his crew upon the beach, and thus began the pirate issue on New Providence Island." (Thomas Hamilton to James McGraw)

Avery vanishes into thin air, after supposedly giving Hal Gates his journals and leaving some of his crew on New Providence Island, including - presumably - Gates. Unless, of course, he is Hal "Gates." Then we've definitely seen him, the man who didn't really want to be a pirate captain until it was thrust upon him. That's a weird attitude, unless, of course, he's retired and is just going to see as a quartermaster because he missed the action?

More Avery/Every history beneath the cut.

Black Sails spells his name as Avery, though the common spelling is actually Every. So, what's his story?

Henry Every, also known as Henry Avery, Jack Avery, John Avery, Benjamin Bridgeman, or Long Ben, was the "Arch Pirate" or "King of Pirates" in his day.

He was probably born in Newton Ferrers, England (near Plymouth), in August 1659. His last name may have been spelled "Evarie" at this time.) Sometime between 1671 and 1689, he joined the Royal Navy under the name Henry Every and made it to the rank of master's mate before being discharged in 1690.

He also married to Dorothy Arther in 1690. Even in the navy, he was known as a family man, sending his money home instead of wasting it.

Then Every joined up with a new shipping company, and became first mate on a privateer warship, Charles II. The Spanish Expedition Shipping company was basically a bunch of English privateers who headed out to help Spain (then an English ally) hurt the French (never an English ally) in the West Indies. But Spain didn't deliver the promised letter of marque, failed to pay them, and left them sitting around as virtual prisoners. The crew of Charles II mutinied. Next you know, Every was unanimously elected captain and they changed the name of the ship to Fancy.

Over the next two years, Every and his crew embarked on a legendary series of raids that culminated in him commanding a squadron of pirate ships and taking a prize worth about £600,000 (about $135 million today). This was a 25 ship convoy owned by the Grand Mughal (Emperor), and it was the biggest prize ever taken by a pirate at the time.

The result? The first ever worldwide manhunt for one Henry Every. Britain's privy council and the East India Company offered a bounty of £1,000 (about $224,000 today) for his capture, plus a free pardon to informers.

It was due to his actions that Parliament declared pirates hostis humani generis ,or enemies of all mankind.

What happened to Every after this? What we know for sure is that he disappeared, forever to be the one pirate who got away scott free with his treasure. Sightings were reported for years, but none were reliable. Some say he died in poverty after squandering his treasure or being unable to sell it. But there's a strong theory that he disappeared in a place we all know very well: New Providence Island.

According to this theory, in Every and Fancy headed to St. Thomas and sold some of their treasure. Anchoring about 50 miles off New Providence Island, some of his men went to talk to the governor and ask leave for the crew to come to the island in exchange for hefty bribe. Their captain, "Henry Bridgeman" promised the governor a gift.

Every's crew spent months in the Bahamas and Fancy was stripped of everything valuable, ending up running aground and sinking, perhaps at the governor's orders. Eventually, the governor learned about the price on Every's head and put a warrant out for his arrest, but he seems to have tipped off the crew. Of 113 men, only 24 were captured (and 5 executed). Every was never seen again, having told his men multiple stories about where he intended to go.

And then he vanished, never to be seen again.

Unless he didn't.

[one-winged-dreams]

MASSIVE LORE DUMP, AS PROMISED, I'm high as shit so I hope I conveyed my vision wel

using my tag list just in case

Tag list: @dearly-beeloved @camellias-and-coriander @rebel-wolf13 @sunstar-of-the-north @lysandreslittlechatot @goldenworldsabound @edencantstopfallininlove @adoredbyalatus @dorothys-wife @faerie-circle-ships @kylars-princess @little-miss-selfships

Okay so as far as I've got, everything started when some "heavenly matter" fell to Earth. It was humanoid but possessed no organs or indicators that it was at all a sapient being.

So of course it gets dragged off and every researcher on the planet NEEDS to get their hands on it. So humanity does its thing where "we don't know what it is but let's find out what we can do with it.

A few month or a year later comes first contact with aliens who show up and are like "So that stuff came here, right?" And once the semantics of 'holy fuck, aliens' wore off humanity was like "oh the heavenly matter? Yeah, neat stuff, been playing around with possibilities, why?" And the aliens are like "Do you want space kaiju? Because that's how you get space kaiju." "What does THAT mean?" "You'll find out if you don't stop fucking with it."

And then they leave and of course humanity doesn't listen. And then giant space kaiju DO start showing up. Which means humanity does what humanity does and tries to build giant robots. Giant artificial cyborgs is more like it. Whatever they're mechs. Later the call them Angels seeing as how they're made out of the "heavenly matter"

They're supposed to be fitted with an AI but the AI keeps getting rejected. Lo and behold, the thing has created a brain and has it's own consciousness. This proves to be extremely interesting and troublesome because there is little to no communication. It may as well be a newborn baby. An AI program is created to give them an instant crash course in the basics of humanity but it's still difficult to communicate with them because they can't speak (no vocal chords) and they can barely move on their own. Eventually one manages to tap into a network (what kind I do not know) Bluetooth style and requests a neural link with a human being. It will be absolutely permanent, there will be a person in your head at all times, and the connection can't be broken until both of them die.

Sounds good let's do it.

So they start trying to link the Angels up with people but they find out that compatibility is difficult to discern. After a while it's discovered that certain people with cognitive degeneration or imbalanced brain chemicals take to the link almost immediately. THAT'S a secret they keep under wraps, along with the fact that it's a legitimate treatment that works at the price of you never having personal privacy again.

Anyway, a company is born called -gestures bc I've got nothing rn- that becomes the face of the project. It's made up of multiple nations of the world as to discourage the Angels as weapons of war. Which would eventually have happened if the space kaiju didn't actually show up.

The ones that had been neutrally linked to an Angel were instructed to enter the (very gross and squishy and slimy) inside so that a full neural link could be completed. And then it was monster ass kicking time. The Angels made perfect weapons against the Kaiju and the aliens from first contact came by like "we have literally never seen anyone crazy enough to do what it is you're doing, teach us because these things have been wrecking us forever,"

And so the corporation expands all over the world and out into various civilizations through space.

And so being a pilot is COOL now, you're a hero, a sports star, a celebrity and public figure. There are usually three to five pilots in one base (which is the building they keep the mechs in as well as a building so huge it's literally a self contained community for employees and pilots to live in for the sake of convenience. Anyway the company is like the biggest deal on the planet.

The way they scout for pilots is to find someone with an abysmal psych case file and cross reference it with their cognitive ability. Then they swoop in like "I know life's hard sweetie? Don't you want to be healed? Don't you want to be a star?" And suddenly there's a new idol to fawn over. The Angels are just as popular, sentient mechs are hype as fuck. the pairs go on becoming full on celebrities.

The neural link itself is a two way mental connection between the Angel and the pilot. They hear feel and see the same things and hear each other's thoughts. It's the ultimate commitment because it can never be broken.

When pilots are out or need their Angel's presence without lugging a giant 40 foot tall (absolute MINIMUM, They can go as big as 80 feet) mech around, they have a neural Bluetooth speaker attached to their own person because they do meetups and talk shows and all that other bullshit.

Anyway, Sariel is an aerial unit, so he's got big angel wings (shhhh let's not think about the mass production EVAs for a second) and he's only 40 feet tall. He's got charm but in a rough sort of way. He's kind of a jackass but a playful one.

I'll talk about my insert on the design art.

So uh

I got got by this post

so...

potential new oc f/o just dropped 👉👈

ABSOLUTELY ripping off the concept of religious themes in mecha series, he's like... a giant sentient mech. That has flesh also? And his designated name is Sariel.

I need to put like, an actual plot together because I need a convoluted narrative to make a dynamic

But yeah >:I

tag list: @dearly-beeloved @camellias-and-coriander @rebel-wolf13 @sunstar-of-the-north @lysandreslittlechatot @goldenworldsabound @edencantstopfallininlove @adoredbyalatus @dorothys-wife @faerie-circle-ships @kylars-princess @little-miss-selfships

[dickwheelie]

I dont know if you're still doing requests but.., space pirates or just pirates au jmart 👉👈 i lov ur writing i think i might melt every time i read you

ohhh this was a fun prompt! it ended up being a little more space than pirates, but at least the jmart is there! thank you for the kind words and I hope you enjoy :))

___________

Jon didn't consider himself much of a hero. He had none of the necessary prerequisites, such as physical prowess, quick thinking under pressure, bravery, or a charming personality. He didn't even have the functionally useless but favorable bonus of dashing good looks. He may have been the captain on board a stolen spaceship, but that didn't mean he was particularly pirate-like himself. He entrusted the majority of the pirating to his small crew, who he privately considered much more capable than he was.

Tim and Sasha, he thought, now those two were hero types. They had the charisma, the skill, the bravery--they even had the good looks. Jon was perfectly fine with letting them take the wheel, as it were, in a crisis situation.

Such as the situation they were in right now.

The SS Magnus had been tearing across space, scanning for large, cushy vessels to pillage, when the mayday alert had sounded. Sasha, who worked communications, said that the mayday had come from an even smaller ship that was hurtling, out of control, through open space. The Magnus was the nearest vessel.

Tim took the pilot's seat and rushed to follow the downed ship's signal, but by the time he'd reached it, the ship had broken itself apart, leaving nothing but shredded metal in its wake. There were no signs of survivors in the wreckage.

Jon, Tim and Sasha shared a collective sigh of regret. They all knew the risks of space travel when they'd decided to become pirates, but it was never pleasant to be reminded of what could happen if a certain combination of things went wrong. Jon stared bleakly out of the cockpit window, then told Tim and Sasha that they might as well start scanning the wreckage for what they could find.

And then something bounced off the cockpit window.

"Was that--?" Jon said, dumbfounded.

"I think so," said Tim.

"Someone in a suit," Sasha said. "From the crash!"

And suddenly, Jon was the captain of a rescue mission.

Jon rushed towards the airlock at the aft of the ship, Tim and Sasha close behind him. When he reached it he could see outside the window the lone survivor, in their spacesuit, clinging for dear life to a handle on the side of the ship's hull.

Jon didn't pause to think. By the time Tim and Sasha arrived at the airlock, Jon was already suited up, and was about to open the innermost door.

"Jon!" Sasha called. "What are you doing?"

"They can't hold on forever," Jon said, "I have to grab them now!"

Once more he looked out the window at the survivor, trying to see beyond their blacked out visor, and caught a glimpse of a pair of wide, frightened eyes.

"It's okay!" Jon said, knowing the survivor couldn't hear him, but hoping they could read his lips. "I'm coming to rescue you! Don't, er, go anywhere!"

Jon put on his helmet and stepped into the airlock, hooking a long tether to his spacesuit. He let the airlock depressurize before opening the outermost door, floating out into the vacuum of space. Holding fast to the tether, he dragged himself out onto the hull, and found himself practically visor-to-visor with the lone astronaut.

Jon reached out his hand, and hoping they could see through his visor, said, "Take my hand! It'll be okay, I'm tethered to the ship!"

He couldn't be sure if the survivor had understood, but they did reach out their free hand, and for a moment their gloves strained towards one another until finally Jon caught hold of theirs, gripping it securely across the palm and wrist. He used the tether to pull them both backwards, towards the open airlock, and after a moment the survivor let go of the hull and clasped their other hand onto Jon's, letting him guide them safely back into the ship.

As soon as they were both inside and the airlock had pressurized again, Jon removed his helmet, breathing heavily with adrenaline, and watched as the survivor did the same.

Their hands moved shakily to detach their helmet, revealing dark curls and a brown face, covered in freckles and with a flushed, elated expression. The survivor looked to be a man, and a handsome one at that, though Jon refused to linger on that particular thought. At once he was at the survivor's side, checking for injuries, though with his suit on there wasn't much to see.

"Are you alright?" Jon asked him, though the question seemed silly considering how the man's day had been going so far.

"You . . . you saved me," the lone survivor said breathlessly, his eyes landing on Jon's. He had a nice voice, Jon thought absentmindedly.

"Yes," Jon said, not knowing what else to say.

The survivor gave Jon a beaming smile. "My hero."

"Um," said Jon. His stomach did something weird, and fluttery.

"I thought for sure I was dead. I'm pretty strong, but I wasn't sure how long I'd be able to hold on before spinning off into empty space. But you rescued me. Just like you said you would."

"I . . . try to keep my promises, yes," Jon said, hoping he wasn't blushing. "Who are you? What happened to your ship? Could there be anyone else alive out there?"

"Oh, right, of course. Sorry, my manners are a little rusty," said the survivor, with an awkward little laugh. "My name's Martin. Martin K Blackwood. It was just me on the ship. I was on a solo delivery run. The company I work for, Solus, they've been cutting down on personnel lately, so most shipping runs are solo now. Which means twenty-four-hour shifts at the wheel, minimum. It sucks, but it pays the bills. Or . . . it did." The survivor--Martin--stared out the window at the remains of his ship. "I'm still not sure what caused the engine to overheat and blow like that. I wouldn't be surprised if Solus weren't up to date on their safety checks. I managed to get my suit on and eject just in time, but then I was sure I was just gonna drift through space forever and die alone anyway."

Martin looked back at Jon, gratitude in his eyes. "But then you rescued me."

Jon wasn't going to be able to keep withstanding Martin's adoring looks if he kept this up. "I'm Jon," he said, trying to change the subject. "Captain of the SS Magnus. Illicit captain, rather. We're pirates."

"Pirates?" Martin's eyebrows shot up, and he looked Jon up and down. "You don't . . . seem like a pirate to me."

"We're basically only pirates by a technicality," Jon said. "We pillage the ships of the rich to give to those in need. Food, medical supplies, power sources, anything useful, really. Occasionally we'll steal a vessel, like this one, but that doesn't happen very often. There's only three of us, at the moment, so we make do however we can."

"Wow," Martin said. "So you're telling me--"

"I know," said Jon, "it's not all that impressive when you--"

"--I was rescued by actual pirates? And their swashbuckling captain is my hero?"

"O-Oh, well, um, that's not--" Jon was definitely blushing now.

Martin laughed. "Do you know how many romance novels I've read the back covers of that I'm putting to shame right now? Twenty-year-old me would be so jealous."

"I--I am not swashbuckling," Jon said, at a loss for anything else to say.

"Of course not." Martin grinned at him before his expression grew more somber. "Seriously, though, thank you. For saving me. I really had given up hope, for a moment there."

Jon nodded. "Of course. You're, ah, very welcome."

They shook hands, and Jon turned to the inner airlock door. "My crew are in there, waiting for us. Tim and Sasha. They're very good. We wouldn't have even found you and your ship without them."

"Then I'd better thank them, too," said Martin. "And--you said it was just the three of you right now, yeah?"

Jon tilted his head at him, unsure where Martin was going with this. "Yes, it is. But I assure you, we're a good team, we'll get you back to your home, or anywhere you'd like to go, safe and sound."

"That's sort of the problem," Martin said. "I . . . don't really have anywhere to go back to. If I go back to the company, they'll find out their ship was destroyed, and my insurance definitely doesn't cover that. If I go home, they'll find me just as easily and chase me down until I've paid. So . . ." Martin gave Jon a meaningful look. "Right about now would be a pretty good time for a career change."

Something clicked in Jon's head. He smiled at Martin, nodding sagely. "Yes, I see. I think we may be able to help you out with that, Martin." He thought for a moment. "You said you flew deliveries for Solus . . . how are you as a pilot?"

Martin grinned at him. "Good. Very good."

"Any moral qualms about stealing from the rich and giving to the poor?"

"None whatsoever."

"Then I don't see why we shouldn't bring you on board," Jon said, returning Martin's smile. "The SS Magnus has been looking for a new pirate to join her crew, and I think you'd fit right in."

Jon might not have been much of a hero, but he had managed to pull a man out of the way of certain death that day, and then bring him onto his crew, which had to count for something. At the very least, Jon thought as he introduced Tim and Sasha to their new pilot, the way Martin looked at him made him feel like the sort of person who really had done something extraordinary.

[littlespoonevan]

So, I'm the anon who asked a while ago if you'd consider writing a Eva/Jonas get-back-together fic, and you said you'd consider it and to remind you after you finished TLDiTM. I know you're already writing a new au (which I'm very excited for!) but I thought I could remind you anyway, for later. Especially now that I've read your perfect fix-it fic, I'm even more excited for what you could do with Eva and Jonas. And just think how happy Isak would be for them! But seriously, no pressure! :-)

ahhhhhh okay so i was pretty sure nobody but me, you and @skamisako cared about this but i found out today everyone still ships eva x jonas so that’s great!!!!! good timing on my part haha this got way longer than expected but i hope u like it, bud!!!!

*

Watching Mahdi scurry across the room to finally talkto the girl he’s been making eyes at for at least an hour after Magnus hasalready deserted them for Vilde, Jonas resigns himself to being third wheel.The thing is, he doesn’t actually mind hanging out with Isak and Even on hisown. Isak is his best friend and he and Even get along really well and, despitethe fact they’re basically married, Isak and Even aren’t the kind of couple tocompletely ignore whoever they’re with in favour of making out with each other.

Well, under normal circumstances.

Tonight, they’re at a party at Jonas can tell they’reboth getting antsy. They keep throwing each other looks when they think Jonasisn’t looking and he knows they’re waiting for an excuse to ditch him so theycan make out in the middle of the dancefloor.

It doesn’t bother him, mostly because he knows thisis what Isak had to put up with with him and Eva during first year. It’sironic, in an amusing sort of way, just how neatly the situation has beenreversed. Even down to the similarities between Eva and Even’s names.

Isak glances at him, biting his lip uncertainly, andJonas rolls his eyes.

“Jesus christ, go,” he huffs, gesturingto the dancefloor with his beer.

Isak’s eyes widen but Even grins from over hisshoulder, standing up and grabbing Isak’s hand to haul him up with him.“Thanks, Jonas!” he singsongs with a lopsided grin.

“We’ll be back in like, ten minutes!” Isak calls overhis shoulder as he’s towed away.

Jonas snorts into his beer. That’s an empty promiseif ever he heard one.

Hardly a minute has passed of him sitting on his ownbefore someone else plops down beside him.

And speak of the devil.

Eva greets him with an enthusiastic, “Halla!” as shetakes a swig of whatever drink concoction she’s made for herself.

“Halla,” he answers on a laugh.

Eva sighs loudly and Jonas follows her gaze to seeher watching Isak dancing with Even. They’re behaving surprisingly PG but Jonasfigures it’s because they’re both smiling too much to be kissing properly. “Ourson’s all grown up,” she says wistfully.

Jonas snorts, casting her a sidelong glance. “Ourson?”

Eva gives him a look, bumping his shoulder with herown. “Just because you got him in the divorce doesn’t mean he’s not still mykid.”

Jonas huffs out a surprised laugh. He forgetssometimes how easily she knows how to make him laugh.

“Nah but they’re cute though, aren’t they?” she asksafter a moment, a fond smile making its way onto her face.

“Yeah, they are,” he agrees and he knows hisexpression mirrors hers. “Isak deserves this.”

Eva hums in response, finally turning back to Jonasand waggling her eyebrows. “So, why were you sitting here all alone? No prettygirls catching your eye.”

“I think I’m gonna fly solo tonight,” he tells herand he’s not quite sure why he can’t keep the grin off his face but he doesn’treally want to either. “What about you? No guys you want to hook up with? Orgirls?” he adds after a beat because he’s seen her make out with Vilde enoughtimes to know not to make assumptions about that kind of thing anymore.

But Eva only smiles at him, shaking her head. “Nottonight.”

He nods in the general direction of Isak and Even.“Wanna keep me company until those two are done then?”

Eva narrows her eyes like she’s pretending to thinkabout it before she nods decisively. “Yeah.”

They end up talking for hours and Jonas forgot how easy thisis. How, above anything else, he and Eva were friends. That’s what made beingtogether so fun. He doesn’t realise how late it is until both their friendgroups descend upon them so they can start heading home.

Eva flashes him a grin as she leaves and he doesn’tknow why it makes him duck his head but he’s smiling at the ground for half thewalk home.

*

Jonas has just pushed his way through the front doorwith the guys and the party’s already in full swing. Truth be told, they’re noteven sure whose party this is. They know it’s someone who just graduated Nissenthis past June but they’re not really all that concerned beyond that. He scansthe room, looking for familiar faces or a route to the kitchen and he knows theboys are doing the same beside him but when his eyes land on Eva he freezes.

He’s used to seeing her hook up with people atparties by now. They’ve been broken up for a year and a half; it doesn’t reallybother him. But this is different. Because Eva’s back is pressed against thewall while some guy leans into her, hand on the wall beside her head. Eva’sable to take care of herself and he knows that but the set of her shoulderslooks rigid even from here and her posture is stiff like she’s doing everythingshe can to keep out of this guy’s reach.

“I’ll be back in a second,” he calls to the boys,hardly sparing a backward glance to see if they heard him before he’s making abeeline across the room.

“Babe, I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” heexclaims loudly, dropping an arm around Eva’s shoulder and gently squeezing itwhen he feels her startle against him. Her eyes are wide as she takes in Jonasand he silently implores her to play along. “I got so lost looking for thebathroom but wanna grab that drink now?”

“Oh- oh yeah,” she agrees hurriedly, leaning intoJonas and letting him lead her away. She doesn’t even bother glancing back tooffer the guy an explanation and Jonas doesn’t stop moving until they’re at theother edge of the room.

When they’re a safe enough distance away he drops hisarm and turns to her.

“Thanks,” she says, blowing out a breath and smilinggratefully at him. “That guy was just wasted enough that he didn’t seem to beable to tell the difference between yes and no.”

Jonas grimaces but when he looks back over to wherethey were, the guy is gone.

“Where are the girls?” he asks, turning back to her.She has at least two sober friends that could keep an eye on her to make surethis doesn’t happen.

Eva shrugs. “I haven’t seen them in a while. We gotsplit up.”

Jonas’ gaze flicks around the room but when hedoesn’t immediately spot any of them he looks back to Eva. “Wanna hang with meand the guys for a while then?”

Eva’s expression relaxes into a smile and she nods.“Sure.”

Taking her hand is a natural reaction and Jonasinternally panics about whether or not he should let go the entire time heleads her over to the couch he’d spotted the guys on. But Eva doesn’t let go soneither does he.

When they’ve made it through the thick of the crowdthough he releases her, feeling a smile spread across his face when Isak looksup in surprise at their arrival and almost immediately opens his arms for Eva.She drops down on the couch beside him and curls into his arms while Jonastakes up residence on her other side.

“You’ve become more cuddly since you got aboyfriend,” he hears her tell Isak. And Jonas bites back a laugh when Isakmakes an offended noise in the back of his throat.

“I’ve always been cuddly, fuck you. You just nevergave me cuddles. You were too busy cuddling Jonas.”

Both Isak and Eva’s gazes immediately snap to him andJonas doesn’t know who he’d rather look at. Isak’s got his eyebrows raised andhe looks way too knowing and when the fuck did he become so observant? Eva’sjust smiling softly at him, a faraway look on her face like she’s thinkingabout a particular memory. His own memories of nights spent in Eva’s bed floodhis mind and he shakes his head to dispel them.

“You could’ve always joined in, Is, you know that.”He jokes because he doesn’t really know what else to say and it makes Eva laughbut he can see the scrutinising look Isak is giving him as Eva wrangles herselfout of his arms.

In the end Isak lets it drop, rolling his eyes.“Whatever. Even’s cuddles are better than both of yours combined.”

“Where is he?” Eva asks, looking over to where Magnusand Mahdi are talking on the other couch and seemingly finally noticing they’remissing the fifth member of their group.

“He’s out with his friends from Bakka,” Isak says.“You know, with Sana’s brother and them.”

Eva nods before a brilliant smile spreads across herface and she’s suddenly throwing an arm around both his and Isak’s shoulders.“The three amigos are back together again!” she exclaims and Jonas definitelyunderestimated earlier how much she’s had to drink.

Jonas huffs a laugh but can’t really help the way he subtlyleans into her.

“Things were so much easier back then, you know,” shesays with a forlorn sigh.

He hears Isak snort on her other side. “I’m prettysure all three of us were a lot more miserable in first year than we are now.”

Eva makes a noise of protest. “I don’t mean firstyear. That was shit. But like, the summer before first year. Just the three ofus hanging out all the time. That was nice.”

It was nice.

Jonas knows they were right to break up when theydid. He knows they needed to. The timing wasn’t right and they both needed tofigure themselves out on their own but- that didn’t mean things were always bad.He was in love with her. And nothing else that happened between them willchange that.

“We had fun,” he mumbles and, judging by the way bothEva and Isak turn to him, he’s definitely missed part of the conversation.

But Eva just grins at him, dropping her head ontoJonas’ shoulders and fuck, that shouldn’t make his heart pound the way it does.“Yeah, we had fun,” she agrees softly, too quiet for Isak to hear probably.

Jonas takes a long pull of his beer and wills himselfto relax, silently thanking Isak for changing the topic of conversation anddrawing Eva’s attention again. He doesn’t know what the fuck is wrong with himbut he doesn’t need the two people who can read him best picking up on it.

Just like the last party, they talk for too long.Only this time Isak is around to be involved in the conversation. And there’s aspecial kind of comfort Jonas feels when he’s spending time with the two ofthem. He feels- settled. In a way he hasn’t really noticed he wasn’t before.They keep talking and laughing about old memories and maybe it’s just thenostalgia infiltrating his brain but fuck, he’s missed Eva.

After the whole trying-to-be-friends thing didn’treally work out so soon after their breakup, he’d backed off and given herspace. Honestly, he’d needed it too. Spending time alone together when theyhadn’t been broken up that long blurred the lines too much. But somehow, givingeach other space, ended up turning into them hardly ever talking. She had herfriends and he had his and even though their groups intersected every now andagain, they always kept to themselves.

But between tonight and last Friday, he’s starting torealise just how badly he’s missed having Eva in his life. He’s missed talkingto her.

Magnus and Mahdi disappear from the other couch atsome point and Jonas honestly doesn’t notice the rest of the party moving onaround them.

It isn’t until someone comes up behind the back ofthe couch and leans over Isak that he even blinks back into reality. Hestartles, relaxing a moment later when he realises it’s Even and watches himbend down to peck Isak on the lips before he straightens again, hands findingIsak’s shoulders.

They’re so comfortable with eachother and, with Eva half-leaning against his side, Jonas yearns for thatfeeling again. More so than he has in months.

“What are you doing here?” Isak asks, soundingsurprised but pleased.

“Yousef came to walk Sana home so I figured I’d justcome get you too,” Even says and Jonas watches the dopey smile that spreadsacross his best friend’s face with thinly veiled amusement.

Isak stands, stretching and looking back to Even.“Can we get McDonalds on the way home?”

“Fuck yes,” Even groans happily. “I’m starved. Jonas,you coming?”

“You’re still staying at ours, right?” Isak chimes in

Jonas freezes, suddenly remembering he was planningon crashing at their place tonight. He’s about to offer to walk Eva home insteadwhen she suddenly joins the conversation.

“Where would he sleep?” she laughs. “The bathtub?”

“On our floor,” Isak corrects. “We have a blow-upmattress just for him.” He directs a saccharine smile at Jonas and Jonas rollshis eyes.

“Why?” Eva asks, bewildered, as sherounds on Jonas.

“His mom caught him when he came home fuckingshitfaced drunk one night and now he’s afraid of her,” Isak snickers.

“She was fucking scary, man,” Jonas protests. “I’mnot going through that again. So yes, I’m staying at yours,” hehuffs. After a moment’s hesitation he looks over at Eva and finds her smilingfondly at their squabble. “Do you wanna come with?”

“To McDonalds?” she asks.

Jonas nods and sends a silent “thank you” in Even’sdirection when he backs him up.

“Yeah, we can walk you home afterwards!” Even agreesenthusiastically. Isak definitely found himself a chivalrous boyfriend.

“Or you can crash at ours,” Isak tacks on, havingfinally rounded the couch to lace his fingers with Even’s. “I’m sure Jonaswould take the floor for you.”

Jonas wouldbut Eva doesn’t need to know that, jesus christ Isak.

But Eva waves a hand dismissively. “Nei! We can sharethe mattress if I stay, oh my god. It’s not like we haven’t shared a bedbefore.”

Jonas isn’t sure exactly which part of that sentenceto internally freak out over more but he’s mostly just trying to stave off ablush at the thought of sharing a bed with her again.

Isak lets out an exaggerated huff, half-heartedly tryingto herd them in the direction of the exit. “Fy faen, we can decide later. Canwe go now?”

Eva bounces to her feet and Jonas follow suit, onlytensing up for half a second when Eva links their arms together the second theystep outside.

“Fuck, it’s cold,” she mutters under her breath asthey set off behind Isak and Even.

Jonas just tightens his arm around hers and tries notto pay too much attention to how hard his heart is beating.

*

When Jonas stumbles into Eva’s kitchen on a Saturdaymorning two weeks later his heart almost drops straight of his chest uponfinding her already sitting at the table with her hands cupped around a mug oftea, looking way too fucking beautiful for the little amount of sleep they’dall gotten last night.

She’d had a party last night. A small one that mostlyconsisted of the same guests as her birthday party but they still all got drunkenough to just end up crashing in her living room rather than going home. Noone else seems to be up yet though.

“Tea?” Eva asks him when he doesn’t say anything andhe shakes himself, offering her a smile.

It’s when they’re sitting at the table a few minuteslater, sharing the silence, that Jonas can’t help thinking back to that day. “Doyou remember the last time you made me tea?” he asks quietly and he watches asEva’s eyes go distant before her expression softens.

“Yeah,” she says finally. “Hopefully this time willhave a happier ending.”

Something in her smile makes Jonas feel like she’snot just talking about them hanging out in her kitchen.

He stares down at his tea, biting the inside of hischeek and trying to work up the nerve to ask the question that’s been on hismind for far too long. Eventually he takes a breath and decides to just blurtit out.

“We were good together, weren’t we? I mean, it wasn’t-it wasn’t all bad, right?”

“Nei, Jonas,” she murmurs and he knows he’s not making up the affection in her voice. “It wasn’t allbad.”

He nods, trying to work through the complicatedseries of emotions making his chest concave.

“Everything I said that day- it’s still true,” shesays. “I didn’t know who I was when I was with you and I needed time on my own.I couldn’t have figured that out when we were still together. I needed to learnto be my own person with my own thoughts and my own beliefs. Not yours orIngrid’s or anyone else’s.”

He nods again because he knows this part. He’s neverever begrudged her the reason why they broke up. If anything, it just made himadmire her more.

“But I loved you,” she admits softly. “So much. Andwhen it was good- it was the best thing I’d ever felt.”

“Same,” he whispers.

They share an indecipherable look and Jonas doesn’treally know what’s happening right now but he knows it means something.

However the moment is broken seconds later in theform of his best friend who still hasterrible timing.

Even ambles into the kitchen, trailed by a sleepyIsak who pats both Eva and Jonas’ heads as he passes them. “God morgen,” hemumbles, plastering himself to Even’s back as soon as he reaches the stove.

“Eva, can I make pancakes?” Even asks, glancing overhis shoulder to look at her but still careful not to dislodge Isak.

Eva smiles fondly at them both before nodding in thedirection of the cabinets. “Go for it.”

She turns back to Jonas with a bemused smile. “We’renot even dating anymore and he’s still interrupting us.”

Jonas huffs a quiet laugh, ducking his head to pointhis dopey grin at his tea instead. “He makes out with Even in front of me allthe time now. I really think he’s doing it on purpose as some kind of karma.”

Eva laughs but Isak’s voice cuts through the sound.

“I’m tired, not deaf,” he grumbles. “I can still hearyou and yes, Jonas. I absolutely do it on purpose.”

It just serves to make Eva laugh harder while Evencalls over his shoulder that he would, “like no part in this! I can’t help itthat my boyfriend’s pretty and I just want to kiss him all the time.”

Jonas rolls his eyes but when Isak and Even maketheir way to the table a few minutes later with a stack of pancakes and fourplates Eva moves to sit next to him.

He tries not to focus on how their shoulders brushany time either one of them moves.

*

He’s lying on his bed, staring at his phone with histhumb hovering over Eva’s contact.

He just- he wants to spend time with her again.Without the threat of interruption. He wants to see if things are different now,if they could be different now thatthey’ve both grown up a bit. He wants to try. And if they’re better off asfriends then they’re better off as friends but he still needs to try.

He opens with a simple, “Hey,” hoping for casual and probably missing it by a mile.

Eva’s reply is almost instant.

Hey!What’s up? :)

And he shouldn’t be fucking freaking out about a smiley face. He knows if Isak was herehe’d definitely be yelling at Jonas over that time he wouldn’t let him textEven a smiley but he can’t help the way his lips curl up at the sight.

Youdoing anything today?

Again, he hardly has to wait a minute before hisphone is pinging.

Nope!Wanna do something?

YeahI thought maybe we could hang out?

Likea date? Eva responds and Jonas freezes. Fuck, is he thatobvious?

He flounders while he tries to think of the right answer.He considers leaving the decision up to her but then he decides that’s notfair. He doesn’t want to put her in the uncomfortable position of having tomake the call without knowing for certain how Jonas feels. No, better to justbe upfront and then let her decide how she wants to reply.

Straight up.

Yeah,if you want that too

He doesn’t have time to freak out before she replies.

You’vealready used all your tricks on me, Vasquez. I hope you’re planning on bringingout the big guns

He beams down at his phone, fingers shaking just a littlebit too much as he replies.

FreshPrince and nachos?

Youknow the way to my heart. I’ll be over in an hour

*

He’s notnervous when Eva knocks on his front door. Except his palms are sweating andhis heart is racing and he’s pretty sure he’s rendered speechless when he seeson the other side of the threshold.

He lets out a breathless, “Halla,” and Eva considershim for a moment before she’s taking one decisive step forward, curling herfingers in his collar and drawing him into a kiss.

It’s chaste. Just a light brush of their lips. But he’sstill positive it makes his brain short-circuit.

She pulls away after a moment and Jonas knows he’sstaring at her with utter disbelief but she just huffs a laugh. “You lookednervous.”

“Were you trying to make me relax because that didn’twork.”

Eva grins, moving closer to him so she can close thedoor behind herself. “Maybe I just missed seeing you look at me like that.”

She’s about to walk past him and their arms brushingis the thing that finally springs him into action. He takes her hand, turningher around so he can kiss her properly. He kisses her the way he’s wanted tokiss her for months, slotting their lips together and revelling in the way they’restill a perfect fit. But it’s a different kiss too. There’s a little somethingextra, a kind of surety that he thinks represents who they are now, how farthey’ve come.

When he pulls away this time he’s smiling and thesimilar grin on Eva’s face that’s caught somewhere between amused and shy onlymakes him want to kiss her again.

She threads her fingers through his hair, leaningback to meet his gaze, and lowly, she asks, “Can we watch Fresh Prince now?”

Jonas raises an eyebrow, groaning out a, “Fuck, Imissed you,” that gets lost between her mouth and the sound of her laughter.

And as she wraps his arms around his neck, hugginghim tight, he can’t help but think, the beginning is a pretty good place forthem to start.

*